


Gifted

by FreeRadicals



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hurt Hunk (Voltron), Hurt Keith (Voltron), Hurt/Comfort, Keith (Voltron)-centric, Team as Family, or kind of the opposite lol
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-28
Updated: 2018-07-20
Packaged: 2019-05-30 00:46:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15085352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FreeRadicals/pseuds/FreeRadicals
Summary: Every human has a Gift, some magical ability that they can use from the day they were born. Some Gifts just happen to be harder to deal with than others.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! This is my second ever fic, and I'm kind of excited about it. It's mostly about the concept of Gifts, something I'd been thinking about for a while. It's also my excuse to dump all of my headcanons into one fic, so if there's something there that you don't recognise, it's probably because it's not canon.

They’d been lucky. Shiro’s Gift was Omnilingualism. They may have been captured by aliens, transported across space, and about to be forced into who knows what, but at least they could understand their captors, so long as they could all stay together.

* * *

Not even his sister’s Hydromancy could have predicted what Lance had just been through.

Hydromancy. What a weird word. He would think that it would mean like powers that move water or bring it to life or whatever. But no, it meant being able to use water to predict the future. For some reason.

But anyways, not even Veronica’s Gift could have seen this coming.

Lance had just been trying to bond with his team, he didn’t think it could lead to being shot into the middle of space with his best friend, distant teammate, rival, and absolute hero. He didn’t think it would lead to meeting a gorgeous space princess. And Coran.

He certainly didn’t think that it would lead to becoming the defender of the universe.

But his mom had always told him that if he couldn’t change something, then he had to adapt to it. He couldn’t waste time being stubborn.

So he was in space. That was a thing.

As much as he could deal with the whole “being in space” thing, he wasn’t so good with the “not being on Earth” thing.

How was he supposed to deal with not knowing if he’d ever see his family again? Never seeing his siblings again, or hugging his mom, or even just the Earth smell of Earth air instead of the space smell of space air.

At least he wasn’t alone in feeling that way. Everyone must have been homesick. Hunk left his moms behind, Pidge was looking for his brother and father, but he must have left his mom or someone else behind, Shiro must have missed his family, even Keith had to have left someone behind. And Allura and Coran had lost an entire planet. Everyone could relate, they all missed someone.

And he didn’t have time to dwell on it. Not with all the awesome stuff that was happening.

After all, _Lance_ was the one who had found the first lion, and formed the first bond. He was the one who took all of them to the Castle of Lions. And now they were the defenders of the universe, about to take down the Galra Empire.

The homesickness could wait.

* * *

“Here’s an option: shut your quiznak.” Lance had said. Allura was horrified, and she could see that Coran was too.

“I don’t think you’re using that word correctly.” was Keith’s response. 

“What do you know, Mullet?” Lance shot back. How these Earthlings were going to work together well enough to be Paladins was a mystery. But they had to, it was their destiny.

“We’re staying.” That was Keith.

“Leaving!” Lance.

“Staying!” Pidge.

“Snake!” Hunk. What was a snake, anyways?

“Guys, stop!” At least the Black Paladin could properly lead. There was still hope for these Paladins. “Princess Allura, these are your lions. You’ve dealt with the Galra Empire before. You know what we’re facing better than any of us. What do you think is the best course of action?”

“I… I don’t know.” She felt so lost. She knew that in reality 10,000 years had passed, but to her it felt like mere vargas ago, Altea had been thriving. She didn’t know how to fight the Galra, not really. To Allura, the war had just begun.

“Perhaps your father can help.” said Coran.

“My father?” It wasn’t possible. King Alfor was gone.

Coran gestured for him to follow her. As they left, she caught just a bit of the Paladins’ conversation.

“And Lance,” said Shiro. “You really weren’t using that word correctly.”

“What does quiznak mean, anyways?” asked Pidge.

“Like I’d tell you that.” said Shiro.

Why was Shiro the only one to understand?

* * *

Pidge never expected to have to explain Gifts. It made sense that aliens didn’t have them, no other animals on Earth did, after all. But still, they were such a normal part of life. It was kind of like having to explain breathing, or using the bathroom.

So she was more surprised than she should have been when Princess Allura asked them about Gifts during dinner.

“Why was Shiro the only one to understand “quiznak”? I doubt the Galra use that word.” was what started the conversation.

“I’m Omnilinguistic.” said Shiro.

“It’s his Gift.” added Pidge.

“What is a… gift? I doubt he could be given a skill as a present? Does he have some form of translation technology?” Allura was obviously struggling to understand. It figured, that the Alteans didn’t have Gifts. They must have just been a human thing then.

Lance tried to help, “No, not like a _gift_ Gift, but like a _Gift_ Gift. You know, like a Gift.”

“Yeah,” said Hunk. “Those things that everyone has, but they’re different. Like Shiro can speak every language, but not everyone can.”

Someone had to clear this up. Guess it was up to Pidge, “A Gift is an ability that every human has. They get it when they’re born, no one’s used their Gift as a fetus. That we know of. Everyone has a different Gift. I mean, people can have the same one, like my brother and I both have Sibling Telepathy, and there are definitely multiple Pyrokinetics. But we don’t all have the same Gift.”

“So humans have magic as well? There were many skilled in magic on Altea.” said Allura.

“Well, it’s not magic,” said Pidge. “It’s Gifts.”

“There doesn’t seem to be a difference.” said Coran. “It’s not scientifically possible to know every language from birth. So it must be magic.”

“Maybe,” said Shiro. “But Earth doesn’t have sorcerers or that kind of magic. Just Gifts.”

Allura seemed to understand. “So you’re omnilinguistic, Shiro. And you’re telepathic with your brother only, Pidge?”

“Yeah,” Pidge replied. “But we can only do it when we make eye contact. So I can’t use it to find him and my dad.” She wished she could, she missed them. But she’d find them, with or without telepathy. She wouldn’t lose her family.

“So, what are everyone else’s gifts?” asked Coran.

Lance blurted out, “Well, I have Enhanced Vision, my eyes work really well. So I can see your beauty better than anyone else, Princess.”

Allura sighed, annoyed. “What about you, Hunk?”

He pulled a face, “Pain Tolerance, which is about the most useless Gift. What good does it do to not know if you’re hurt?”

Shiro tried to end that train of thought, before the dinner mood was ruined, “Keith’s is Piloting.” Why didn’t Keith say it for himself? Though, he did seem to be the quiet type. A lone wolf, not taking part in conversation.

Why is the phrase “lone wolf”, anyways? Wolves are social creatures, they rely on their packs. Lone wolves starve and die.

“Which means that _technically_ , Keith was only so good at the Garrison by _cheating_. And I was still better than him.” said Lance.

Keith took the bait, easily starting an argument. “Using a Gift isn’t cheating, Lance.”

Seems like they couldn’t go an hour without arguing. Maybe Pidge could study that, or something. The behaviours of stupid teenage boys, and how easily they can start fighting.

* * *

Keith was fine with most of the bonding exercises. Training together was fine, really.

Except for that one exercise. The mind meld. That was terrible.

Who thought that it was a good idea to have everyone look into each other’s minds? Aren’t those personal?

Pidge hadn’t liked that either. He’d (She’d? Pidge was Katie, right? Matt had one sister, Commander Holt only had two kids.) stormed out in the middle of training. Maybe Pidge was hiding something too. Maybe it was the fact that Pidge was really Katie? Or even something else. Who knew. Besides Pidge, of course.

But it couldn’t have been what Keith was hiding. He doubted there could possibly be another Seer on the team.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading this! I'm really excited to share this story, and I can't wait to post more of it. I hope you enjoy it! 
> 
> Oh and yes, the whole hydromancy part was because I was thinking about that. I was trying to look for a power that was kind of like hydrokinesis, but was more about bringing water to life, rather than just moving water. But when I searched up hydromancy, it actually meant divining the future using water. Weird.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! I'm trying to update this on a weekly basis, but sorry in advance if I end up being late on that. THank you so much to everyone who's read, left kudos, bookmarked, or commented. Thank you especially to those who left comments. I'm sorry that I haven't responded to the comments yet, but know that every one of those comments made me so happy!
> 
> Also, happy belated Canada Day, and any other holiday that has passed.
> 
> This fic really is my excuse to project all over my characters, and so in this fic I did make Keith part Indian, Telugu to be exact. It's because I'm Telugu, but there are pretty much no South Indian characters, let alone Telugu characters in the media. I'm keeping his last name as Kogane, to stay true to the Voltron franchise, but in this AU his dad is half Japanese and half Indian, so it still makes sense. This doesn't really change that much, but I'll have things like Keith calling his dad "Nanna", or other things like that.

They couldn’t stay together. Sam had been separated from the beginning, leaving Matt and Shiro to be sent to the arena, and fight for the Galra’s entertainment.

Galra. The monsters that had kidnapped them, taken them away from their mission. What an interesting species.

Sam had kept his Gift a secret from the Galra. They didn’t have to know about his Memory.

He just hoped that Matt and Shiro could stay together. Maybe they could protect each other, maybe they could survive.

* * *

Keith was maybe three when he learned what a Gift was. He’d been playing with blocks, and his dad had been doing the dishes, and ended up dropping a plate.

“We’re buying dinner now!” Keith said.

“No, Keith,” his dad said. “We have plenty of other plates.” He’d laughed, and Keith didn’t understand what was so funny.

“No, Nanna!” he probably screamed that. Little kids tend to have worse tempers than their older selves, and Older Keith wasn’t really known for staying calm. “I _know_ we have more plates! But now dinner’s gonna burn!”

His dad started to take the conversation more seriously then. “It’s not even lunch time. Keith, do you always know the future?”

“Doesn’t everyone?” Keith was confused. Wasn’t it normal to know that if _this_ happens then _that_ happens?

His dad shook his head. “No, Keith. I think your Gift is Sight.”

“No! No one gave me a sight. It just happens!” Keith was frustrated. His dad didn’t understand!

His dad laughed again. “Not a gift like you get for your birthday, this kind of Gift is like a magical power that every human has, though most people have different Gifts. I think your Gift is Sight. You can see the future.”

“Everyone has a Gift?” Keith’s eyes were wide. “What’s yours?”

His dad gave him a weird look. It was happy and sad at the same time. He didn’t understand how you could feel like that, not until he was much older.

“Faith.” his dad said.

* * *

Shiro had been watching Keith during the mind meld exercise.

He had been since going back to Earth. Keith was his responsibility, he needed to watch out for him.

But he’d been more worried than usual during training. He’d seen Keith, he was breathing like Shiro had taught him to when he needed Keith to calm down. Coran may have said to clear their minds, but Keith might have been taking it a bit too far.

He’d always been a private person, but Shiro hoped Keith would be able to trust the teammates he had to protect with his life.

* * *

Keith didn’t mind fighting the gladiator. It was at least a useful part of training.

He’d almost been enjoying it, when he got a Premonition.

He knew that Shiro would somehow be incapacitated during this part of training, and that if Keith didn’t do anything about it, Shiro could die.

He fought his hardest against the gladiator, hoping to destroy it before anything could happen to his teammates. He still ended up being knocked to the ground with Lance.

He was still getting up when he saw Shiro having a flashback, about to get hit by the gladiator. This was it. Keith had to do something.

He brought his sword up to block the gladiator before it could reach Shiro. “Shiro, are you okay?” he asked. The feeling of impending doom from the Premonition started to fade.

He must have done something right, even if he couldn’t beat the gladiator.

* * *

Training was over, they’d finally formed Voltron.

Hunk couldn’t be more relieved. He also couldn’t be more worried.

As soon as he could, he went to his room to start looking for bruises, or other injuries. He couldn’t afford to not know, he could have gotten a serious injury without noticing. He wouldn’t have been able to feel it.

What if he'd gotten hurt by the gladiator? Or the invisible maze? Or any of the other super dangerous training activities the team had done that day?

He’d been so caught up in his search for wounds that he hadn’t even noticed Lance walk in.

“Hey Hunk! Wanna join us for—what are you doing?” he finally noticed Hunk frantically staring at his leg. Thank goodness he hadn’t been searching under his clothes yet.

“Searching for bruises and stuff.” said Hunk. 

“Cool, want me to help?” asked Lance. “My eyes will able to spot anything better than yours can.” He’d been helping Hunk with this since they met at the Garrison. Hunk scooted over on his bed, and let Lance join him.

“Let me see your back, since you can’t see that well.” Lance took off Hunk’s shirt.

Maybe he didn’t have to be so worried, he did have Lance, after all. Still he did have to be pretty worried. Lance wouldn’t be able to fix everything, and he wouldn’t be there all the time.

He was glad when, hours later, he could be absolutely sure that he had no bruise, scratch, or any other wound. 

He was safe this time.

* * *

As a little kid, Hunk had loved his Gift.

He hadn’t always known that Pain Tolerance was a Gift, his family had brought him to a lot of doctors to check if it was caused by an illness or disorder. But there had been no medical reason for him not feeling pain. It was just his Gift.

He loved the fact that he could eat too many sweets without getting a tummy ache, could fall and scrape his knees without having to stop playing. He took as many risks as he wanted to, he couldn’t get hurt, after all.

Things changed when he broke his arm.

He hadn’t even been doing anything dangerous, he was just climbing a tree and then fell.

His mom picked him up, and asked if he was alright, if he was hurt.

“I’m not hurt at all, mom. I never am!” He gave her a big smile. He was about to get back on his bike, but his mom picked him up.

“I don’t like how your arm looks right now, babydoll. I’m taking you to the hospital.” she said.

Hunk had had to wear a big cast, and couldn’t ride his bike until the cast came off. It was no fun at all, he was really mad at his mom.

He’d complained about it to his mama one night. Surely she had to see how unfair this was!

“She was just worried about you, honey.” his mama had said. “And for good reason, too. You were hurt, this cast will make you better.”

“I’m not hurt!” Hunk said. “I can’t get hurt! You know that!”

“You can get hurt, Hunk.” she looked him, straight in the eyes, and Hunk knew that she couldn’t be lying. “You just can’t feel it. I know that it’s your Gift, but it’s a really scary Gift. Your mom and I don’t want you to get hurt and just not realise it. You could die completely by accident, and that scares us.

Hunk was a lot more careful after that. He made sure to never get hurt again. He didn’t want himself to die either.

* * *

Keith was glad that he went straight to his room after they formed Voltron. As soon as he’d sat down on his bed, he had a Vision. A Fixed Vision.

Keith didn’t really like Fixed Visions. Not just because you had to be unconscious to have them, but because there was something terrifying about knowing the future but still not being able to change it.

He saw some huge monster landing on Arus. Voltron had to fight it, but the team was struggling to. Keith didn’t know if they would survive.

On that calm note, he went to bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading this! I really hope you liked it!
> 
> I realised as I was writing it that making Hunk and Keith go straight to their rooms after forming Voltron means that the Hunk-Keith-Lance group hug never happened, and I feel really bad about that. I guess that means that I should add new group hugs later in the story, then.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry! I know that I'm a week late, and I'll try not to do that again without notice! Thank you so much if you're still reading this, and thank you to everyone who gave kudos, bookmarked, or commented. Thank you especially to those that left comments!

Surprisingly, they didn’t need the Omnilingualism. The Galra had some technology or something that let them understand and be understood by every species. Probably to keep their slaves obedient. You can’t follow orders that you don’t understand, after all.

Matt found this out after being separated from Shiro, being saved by him.

He hoped Shiro was alright. He was a good enough fighter back on Earth, he had taught Keith some self-defence as a way to channel his anger, and protect himself. Matt wouldn’t lose hope. Shiro would survive this. All of them would.

* * *

Keith was about as excited as most kids were to start school. He’d been excited to meet new friends and new teachers, to learn stuff, and to really be a _big kid_ who went to _school_. It was a big deal for any kid his age.

Before he could actually go, his dad made sure to tell him something. He said that it was very important.

“Keith,” he started. “Soon you’ll be going to school! I’m sure you’ll make lots of friends. But remember this one thing, okay? Never tell anyone that your Gift is Sight. No one at all, okay?”

“Why?” Keith asked. That didn’t make sense. Didn’t everyone have a Gift? What was wrong with Sight?

“It’s nothing wrong with you, or with Sight,” he made sure to look Keith in the eyes for this. Keith listened to every word. “But Sight is a rare Gift, and a powerful one. If people knew that you had it, they might pretend to like you for the wrong reasons. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Nanna.” Keith said. He didn’t understand, not one bit.

He tried really hard to listen to his dad anyways. His dad was always right, after all. But it was hard, everyone talked about their Gift, and they asked him about it. No one liked it when he said that he couldn’t tell them his Gift.

He told one kid that he had Sight. That kid told everyone. No one believed it.

At least that meant that his secret was safe.

* * *

Keith didn’t trust the Arusians. And not just because he was naturally untrusting. He had a bad feeling about them.

He knew that interacting with the Arusians would lead to one of his teammates getting hurt, badly.

Maybe he could do something to prevent that.

* * *

Shiro was incredibly glad that his team had beat the Robeast. Don’t get him wrong, he’d known that they would have done it somehow. But still, it was a real relief that they did. That it was over.

The fight helped them bond as a team, helped them unlock Voltron’s sword, and helped him remember a lot more, but man if it wasn’t terrifying. So he was glad that it was over, as was his team. Over dinner that night, they were even joking about it.

When the conversation started fading out, Allura drew everyone’s attention.

“Paladins, the Arusians have asked for us all to have a grand celebration in in the castle in honour of our victory against the Robeast. Do make sure that you are on your best behaviour, you are representing all of Voltron.”

“Are you sure that we should be doing this?” asked Keith. “I mean, can we really trust a bunch of strangers into the castle?”

Allura sighed. “As Voltron Paladins, you must form good relationships with your allies. We have to be a bit trusting to gain their trust.”

“But—” Keith started.

“They are our allies, they will do no harm to us.” Allura was starting to get annoyed. Shiro wondered what was making Keith so untrusting about the Arusians. But maybe it was just Keith being Keith. He always was slow to come out of his shell and trust others.

“I don’t want to take any chances.” said Keith.

“You have to take some chances when it comes to war, Keith.” Shiro soothed. “But if they do turn out to be unfriendly, we’re more than capable of defending ourselves.” He hoped that there wouldn’t be an argument at dinner that night. They were finally working together as a team.

* * *

Keith hoped that Shiro was right, and maybe his premonition had been dealt with already.

Yeah, he could believe that. Maybe by saving the Arusians from the Robeast whatever they were going to do wasn’t going to happen. He held onto that hope. Hoping was about all that he could do about it.

* * *

His hopes didn’t come true.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that this chapter's a bit short, I got really stuck when trying to write it. I hope you enjoyed it anyways, and you like what I post next!
> 
> Also, sorry if some really weird punctuation shows up at some point in the fic. My computer keeps switching to the french keyboard and I never notice until my become 'apostrophes' and "quotation marks", or my question mark becomes an É. It's really annoying if I'm trying to italicise something in this story. Sorry to anyone who read chapter two before today and didn't get to see the three words that I just italicised. But if any of those sort of things showed up earlier or show up later, then please tell me! It's either my keyboard switching around or a mistake in my html, and I'd really like to fix that!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I'm really sorry about posting that chapter so late, and it being so short! To make up for it, I'm posting the next chapter earlier. Now by next Thursday we'll be perfectly on schedule ☺
> 
> Thank you so much for reading this!!!!! I hope you like reading this as much as I like writing this when I actually have inspiration and motivation, because during that time I like writing this a lot.

Keith hadn’t meant to be a liar. Really, he hadn’t. He wasn’t even good at lying, not if he tried.

It was when he wasn’t trying that he became good at it.

He’d started hiding that he was a Seer because his dad had said to, he hadn’t understood why at the time. His dad had said that it would attract the wrong kind of attention. Keith soon learned what the wrong kind of attention was.

It didn’t matter how much time had passed since his dad told him that, life had taught him that it’s best not to reveal everything about yourself.   
And he knew that above all, he couldn’t reveal that he was a Seer.

So that Premontition had mentioned the Arusians, but hadn’t mentioned that they weren’t the direct cause of the problem.

Great. Just great.

Why did being a Seer have to be so complicated! He couldn’t just get a feeling like “Sendak will attack” or “Bomb in the castle” or “Rover is involved” or _anything_ useful, just that someone would be injured and the Arusians were involved.

Barely involved, though. The Arusians had the party in the castle leading to the Galra making a fake Rover that was a real bomb leading to Lance being injured and thankfully put in a cryopod in time.

Why couldn’t he just know exactly what could happen, or something specific. But no, he had to either get really vague Premonitions that just confused him rather than actually helping, or Visions that made him completely spaced out or even unconscious.

Some Gift.

* * *

Hunk hadn’t been injured fighting the Robeast. He hadn’t been injured on the Balmera. He hadn’t been injured fighting Sendak. He hadn’t been injured by Nyma and Rolo, and _somehow_ he hadn’t been injured rescuing the Balmera.

Thank goodness.

He felt a bit bad about it, though. His hesitancy to get hurt meant that everyone else ended up getting hurt more, including the Balmera. But it all turned out fine in the end. Allura healed the Balmera completely, and the worst of his teammate’s injuries were some bruises.

Everything was fine.

* * *

Keith had a feeling that something bad would happen that day. Or quintant. Or whatever.

It wasn’t a Premonition or anything, it had just been too long (a few hours at most) since they had rescued the Balmera, something else had to go wrong soon. Their lives weren’t peaceful enough for it not to.

They’d been in the middle of watching Sendak’s “interrogation” when he realised what it was going to be.

It came to him in a Vision. A Fluid Vision, thankfully, so there was no passing out in front of the team, just a bit of spacing out while everyone was silently watching the pod.  
He saw Shiro looking at Sendak. He was alone.

He heard Sendak’s voice say, “We’re connected, you and me.” His mouth didn’t move at all. “Both part of the Galra Empire,” he continued.

Shiro stepped a bit closer to Sendak. “No. I’m not like you!” he said.

Sendak spoke again, “You’ve been broken and reformed. Just look at your hand.”

Shiro did just that. “That’s not me!” he said.

“It’s the strongest part of you. Embrace it,” said Sendak. “The others don’t know what you know. They haven’t seen what you’ve seen. Face it. You’ll never beat Zarkon. He’s already defeated you.”

Shiro looked terrified. “I’m not listening to you!” he cried, grasping his head in both hands and sinking to the floor. He started hyperventilating.

“Do you really think a monster like you could be a Voltron Paladin?” asked Sendak.

“Stop it!” yelled Shiro, getting up from the floor. He punched Sendak’s pod with his metal arm. The glass cracked, but did not break. 

Sendak looked down to smile at him. It was the first time that he’d moved since first being put in that pod. 

Shiro screamed, and pushed the button near the pod, sending Sendak into space alone.

That was the whole Vision.

It was Fluid, so Keith could change it, he could stop that from happening entirely. He didn’t have to let Shiro get hurt like that.

He just had to make sure that Shiro was never alone with Sendak, like he was in the Vision.

So while everyone else found reasons to leave, he thought he should just stay in the room with Shiro, rather than try to convince him to leave. He knew he wouldn’t be able to do that, Shiro was the most determined of them all, maybe excluding Allura, to take down the Galra.

Pidge was the first to go. “Okay, if anyone needs me I’ll be in the lab,” she said. “Maybe I can pull some information from Sendak’s Galra crystal.” Hopefully she could. The less time they had to spend with Sendak himself, the less likely it was that the Vision would come true.

Hunk was next, saying, “Time to feed the beast. I’m gonna go make some breakfast.”

“Well, I’m afraid I can’t wait here any longer, either,” said Coran. “I have a million duties to attend to. Between that Galra crystal infecting our system, and then fighting off those ships and performing the Balmeran rejuvenation ceremony, the old Castle of Lions has taken quite a beating. Every system needs to be recharged and repaired.”

“I’ll stay,” said Shiro. “Somewhere in Sendak’s mind is the information about Zarkon that we need.” Keith would stay too. That Vision wasn’t coming true.

Lance yawned and got up, stretching. “Okay, well, while you guys do that, I think I’m gonna get my chill on,” he said. “Maybe kick back with a lemonade or space juice. Something.”

“Hold on there, Space Juice,” Coran started. “You and Keith are going to come help me.” _What._ thought Keith.

“What? Why? Why me?” asked Lance.

“Because you’re the last two here,” said Coran. “And because your activity isn’t very important, Lance.”

“Wait, did I say ‘chill with a good lemonade’?” Lance tried. “I meant I gotta do homework.”

“No. Too late,” said Coran.

Keith couldn’t think of an excuse, not one that didn’t include that he was secretly a Seer and had a Vision that told him that something bad would happen if Shiro was left alone with Sendak. And he couldn’t use that one, even if it was the truth.

Especially since it was the truth.

“Fine,” said Lance. “Let us know if anything happens.”

Shiro didn’t answer.

“Shiro?” Keith asked.

“You got it.” Shiro said. He seemed shaky, and afraid. Keith hoped that he’d be alright, that the Vision wouldn’t come true while he was cleaning with Coran.

It was a longshot, but it was all he could do.

* * *

Lance seriously didn’t want to be cleaning. Seriously, what was so ridiculous about the idea of self-cleaning pods? They sure would make things a lot easier.

There was one thing that he hated more than cleaning, though, and that was cleaning with _Keith_.

Seriously, the guy wouldn’t even join in on the conversation with Lance and Coran, just silently kept cleaning the pod next to Lance with his signature frown on his face.

Honestly, it was probably even an angrier frown than usual. Way angrier than the situation called for, even if it was cleaning.

“What’s got you so angry, huh?” Lance said. “You can’t hate cleaning _that_ much.”

“I don’t hate cleaning at all,” Keith snapped. “And I’m not angry.”

“Not angry?” Lance looked at him. Could you believe this guy? Did he think Lance was stupid? “Then what are you?”

Keith looked down, scrubbing the pod way harder than he needed to. Sheesh, and he claimed he wasn’t angry. “I’m just worried, that’s all. About Shiro. He’s alone with Sendak.”

Lance went back to his cleaning. “That’s all? You don’t need to worry about Shiro, he’s way tougher than Sendak. And Sendak’s in a _pod_ , he can’t do anything. So you can stop you worrying, or brooding, or whatever.”

Keith didn’t respond. It was kind of rude, honestly. Lance looked over, and Keith hadn’t even been listening to him. That was _really_ rude. Keith was just staring forward at the pod, not even moving his cleaner. Only _Keith_ would just start daydreaming in the middle of a conversation. And Lance had been trying to be nice to him.

Well, Lance couldn’t waste time brooding on that, so he went to clean the inside of the pod. And then the pod decided to close.

He (completely without freaking out. He always stays calm, cool, and collected, like any awesome hero should) tried to get Coran’s attention, but the old man was too wrapped up in his old stories about his old _boot camp_ to even look in Lance’s direction. And _Keith_ wasn’t any help either.

The pod sank into the floor with Lance frozen inside.

After who knows how long, the pod opened and Lance stepped out.

“This pod just shut on me and locked me in while you were rambling on about boot camp!” he yelled. “And _you_ ,” he said, looking at Keith this time, “Did _nothing_!”

“Now, now, Keith was the one who told me about you being in that pod,” Coran said. “And are you sure you didn’t just trip and fall in? No judgement, it happens. Besides, why would the pod automatically lock and start the cryogenic freezing process?”

“To kill me!” Oh come on! It’s like they were _trying_ to not take him seriously! He just got attempted murdered and they were acting like he just did it to himself!

“Don’t get your boots in a bunch,” said Coran. “My guess is they’re malfunctioning.”

“Okay, I’m gonna float this out there,” Lance said. “I think this castle is haunted.”

“The ship might seem like a fantastic, magical creature to you,” said Coran. “But it’s really just a big embodiment of advanced supernatural technology that cannot be explained by science alone.”

That just made it seem more haunted.

“Well that does make it seem a bit haunted, doesn’t it?” said Coran. “But it’s not! Trust me, Nothing out of the ordinary is happening here.”

When the pod sank into the floor again, Lance (totally without screaming, he’s an amazing hero who isn’t afraid of anything) left the room, with Keith following him.

Ha, what a scaredy-cat, needing Lance to protect him from whatever was haunting the castle.

They were walking through the castle when all the lights started going out, and a figure flickered in front of them.

Lance _knew_ that the castle was haunted.

He heard Coran calling for help, and he started running to save him.

“I’m trapped in the airlock!” he heard.

“I’m coming!” Lance said.

Just as he was about to open the airlock, Keith stopped him. “Wait!” he said. “What if it’s a trap!”

“What do you mean?” What was Keith saying. He was crazy! Coran’s life was in danger and Keith was trying to stop him?

“I mean, it might be a trick,” Keith said. “What if Coran’s not in there at all? What if something's luring us there?”

“Don’t be so paranoid!” Lance said. “I’m coming, Coran!”

He stepped into the airlock. There was no one there.

“See, now—” Keith was cut off as the airlock door shut between them. Lance was the one who was really trapped in an airlock! Keith must have trapped him there on purpose!

“Keith! What are you doing!” he said. Then the airlock said that it was opening in 30 ticks. “You're going to kill me!” Keith wouldn’t _really_ kill him, right?

Then the door opened, and he was able to escape. “What the cheese did you do that for!” he yelled.

“What do you mean, I just saved you,” Keith said.

“After you tried to kill me by trapping me in an airlock!” Was Keith trying to play dumb?

“I didn’t trap you in an airlock!” Keith said. “I told you, it was a trap!”

“And how did you know it was a trap, hmm?” Lance asked.

“Because,” Keith paused for a second before continuing. “The castle tried to kill you with that cryopod before. We can’t trust it not to try to kill us again. I’m going to see if Shiro’s alright, don’t get yourself killed while I’m gone.”

With that, Keith left, leaving Lance alone in the _totally haunted_ castle.

* * *

Keith got to Shiro just in time.

He would have been there earlier, if not for that second vision, the one with Lance getting sucked into space.

Why was the castle trying to kill them? Was this Sendak’s fault?

As he walked into the room, he heard Shiro say, “No. I’m not like you!” He paused for a few seconds, then said, “That’s not me!”

Sendak hadn’t said anything.

“Shiro!” Keith called. “Who are you talking to!”

Shiro turned towards Keith way too quickly. “It’s Sendak!” he cried. “Don’t you hear him?”

“No one is talking besides the two of us, Shiro,” said Keith. “Sendak can’t do anything while he’s in a pod.”

Shiro was still terrified, but it was a lot different than what the Vision had shown. He’d helped him, at least a little. And he could calm him down from this panic attack, somehow.

* * *

Keith regretted complaining about having two Visions in one day.

He’d have given anything to have had a Vision or Premonition or anything else about what was going on right then.

Anything to have known that Allura was going to be captured on that hub, or if they were going to be able to rescue her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I think this chapter is about three times the length of the last one. Oops.
> 
> This chapter has one of the smaller instances of the AU diverging from canon events, since Sendak is still on the castle and all. Thankfully, the haunted castle stuff was from the Galra crystal, and not from Sendak himself being on the castle.
> 
> We might end part one of this fic soon! I plan to completely diverge from the show's timeline after a certain event happens, and hopefully I don't end up writing 2000 words per episode before that event like I did with Crystal Venom. In my defense, Crystal Venom is one of my favourite episodes, what with the castle being haunted, everyone being attacked, and the really sad scenes with Shiro being tormented by Sendak and Allura losing her father twice.
> 
> My plan for the fic divides the story into three parts. **(IF YOU READ PAST THIS POINT THERE ARE SOME KIND OF MINOR SPOILERS FOR THIS STORY THAT DON'T AFFECT MUCH BUT SOME PEOPLE DON'T WANT TO KNOW THIS STUFF YET!!!)** Part one is introductory, it shows how the Gifts work in this universe, it's supposed to show which characters it will be centric on (Keith and Hunk, I haven't added the Hunk-centric tag yet because there's not enough of him in it yet, but I will once his actual arc in this story starts), and it's supposed to show the motivations of the characters. Hopefully I succeed in doing that!
> 
> Part two is the Hunk arc. Keith won't actually be in too much of it, to hopefully stop myself from slowly turning him into the only main character. He's my favourite, and I love him, but he doesn't need so much time in the limelight when Hunk—my next favourite—is a main character in this story too. This is about him slowly getting over his fear of getting injured and dying because he can't feel pain.
> 
> Part three is the Keith arc. This is about him getting over his fear of others knowing about his Sight. At this point I've given an explanation or two about why he hides it, but it might not make any sense. I hope that I haven't given too much away at the very beginning when it's dealt with in part three, but I also hope that I haven't given away too little and left you too confused.
> 
> I hope that you guys like this chapter!!!! See you (or I guess be read by you?) on Thursday ☺!!!!!!!
> 
> P.S. I just realised this note is way too long and I'm really sorry about that.


End file.
